Stars from the year's hit films, including Meryl Streep, Michael Fassbender and Kenneth Branagh, collect their prizes at the 32nd London Critics' Circle awards. Winning films this year include The Artist, Shame, The Iron Lady and We Need to Talk About Kevin – and there was a special honour for director Nicolas Roeg

How does it feel to have your widely rejected manuscript become a best-selling, prize-winning novel, then a book-club favourite and now the toast of the Cannes film festival? The author of We Need to Talk About Kevin explains